Gnome Table Runners

At the dinner table, my wife's best friend suddenly speaks to her in Lytian. "Three years ago, you married Julian in a grand wedding just to help Jace get Julian's letter of forgiveness. Over the years, I've seen Julian fall more and more deeply in love with you. Yet, you're still lying to him. "You gave him sterilization pills but passed them off as his depression medication. Aren't you afraid that he'll fall apart if he finds out the truth?" My wife, Erica Inman, briefly shows a conflicted expression on her face. She then gives a bitter smile and says, "A child unwanted by their mother has no reason to be born. As long as Julian doesn't stand in the way of Jace's happiness, I will keep my promise and stay by his side for the rest of his life." No one knows that I've learned Lytian to keep up with Erica. I stand in the living room and look at the fresh kiss mark on my neck. As I glance at the medication I take regularly for my depression, my whole body turns cold. It turns out that all of Erica's affection toward me was fake. What I thought was my salvation turns out to be nothing but a carefully planned deception. Since that's the case, I'll do my part to make sure they all get what they want.

Everyone has gathered around to play games together. The current game requires all players to transfer red wine to each other via our mouths. Before my fiance, Teodoro Lamperti, is able to transfer the wine to me, his female best friend, Cristina Ghedini, shoves me away before kissing him on the mouth right away. "What are you doing? Today is Serafina's big day, you know!" Teodoro might be complaining on the outside, yet he's patting Cristina gently on the back. The atmosphere in the villa becomes eerily silent. Everyone stares at me as I sit on the floor in a wretched manner. Cristina merely smiles nonchalantly. Then, she leans against Teodoro's shoulder. "Don't be so petty, Serafina. Teodor and I are as thick as thieves since we were kids. We're used to sharing everything together." Teodoro begins advising me as well. "It's just a game, Serafina. You've always been gracious, haven't you? Don't act like a sore loser." Everyone thinks that I'll explode into rage and flip the table of food over, like I had done in the past. But this time, I just draw to my feet and take off the engagement ring. Then, I slide it onto Cristina's finger. "This ring is yours now. Congratulations on your marriage. Remember to invite me to your wedding."

After my rebirth, I decided to draw a hard line between myself and the heir of the Mafia Family, Carlo Gutierrez. He had his golden retriever take my seat and told everyone I wasn't even fit to touch dog food at his party. After that, I never sat at the main table again. He complained that my voice was giving him a headache and got in the way of his business, so I muted myself in front of him. He sneered that I reeked, so I packed up and went back to my rundown apartment in the slums, never setting foot on his territory again. In the end, he said just having me around would ruin his marriage alliance with the Moreno Family's Principessa. I nodded, then accepted someone else's proposal without hesitation. I made the choices opposite to what I made in my last life. After I married him in my previous life, the Moreno Family's Principessa was killed in a shootout. Carlo concluded I was the culprit and threw me into the basement for torture before finally throwing my body into the sea. Later, when he saw me with another man, he confronted me with red eyes. "Rosa Shaw, you've had your fun. Come back with me, and I'll pretend none of this ever happened!"

“I will never love you,” Anthony said with a determined look. However, the girl didn't care about his words. Regina still repaired a table full of beautiful dishes. Then, she took some food and put it in his mouth. His whole body relaxed and savored the satisfying sensation in his mouth. “I know. But can we enjoy the meal first? I have made your favorite food,” Regina blinked her moving eyes which made Anthony's heart a little unbearable. He gulped and sat down on the chair. “I love your food, not you,” Anthony began to take the meal while he was maintaining his harsh expression. Regina secretly smiled but she knew he wouldn't run away from her. ------------------------------------- Regina lived two human lives. In her first life, her family sold her to Anthony, the head of the Dominic mafia family. Regina and Anthony tormented each other until he accepted to let go of her hand. The good life was disrupted by the adultery and deception of her sister and her husband. Anthony was always waiting for Regina to return, but she ended up dying in his arms while taking the bullet for him. Reviving at the age of 17, Regina decided to change everything and accept being with Anthony. However, Anthony seemed to avoid Regina causing her to actively pursue him.

To protect my boyfriend, Nico, the illegitimate son of our allies, the Moretti family, from their internal power struggles, I agreed to leave New York with him. But on the eve of my adoptive father, the Don of the Falcone family, signing our transfer orders, he backed out. Through the hidden door of the cigar lounge, I heard his right-hand man tease him: "So you really kept up that act for three months just to get rid of the princess?" "But she's your childhood sweetheart. You really have the heart to some miserable fishing village in the Baltics all by herself?" Nico's voice was nonchalant. "It's just an outpost across the pond. How far can it be?" "Scarlett is too controlling. If I don't get her out of the picture, how am I supposed to get any breathing room? Besides, I need to put Chloe at ease." I stood behind that hidden door for a long time that night, my grip on the doorknob tightening until my knuckles were white, before I finally let go. I turned and walked away, pulling out my tablet to change my flight plan. I changed the destination from the official plan of that desolate Baltic outpost to a seat at the High Table in Sicily, which is the absolute center of old-world Mafia power. Everyone seemed to have forgotten. I am the princess of the Falcone family. And he is nothing but filth from the gutter. We were never a match.

Valeria was just a wife on paper. Three years of a hellish marriage with the only man she had ever loved but it ended in divorce one rainy night. “Sign them. I can no longer stand to see your face or pretend like I don't want to strangle you with my bare hands everytime I lay eyes on you.” He barked coldly, throwing the papers on the table in front of her. She couldn't say it was unexpected. It had always been a matter of time. Once childhood friends, everything had gone to hell because of one woman, Isis Whittaker, Luka's late fianceé. An unfortunate accident. An incriminating message. Somehow, Luka came to believe Valeria was responsible for the death of the woman he loved and took it upon himself to punish her personally. Three years of torment and being labelled a murderer. She'd never thought the ending would be so…cathartic. Her hand lightly grazed her stomach as she signed the papers. Terrified of how she would explain she was pregnant from a night of passion he didn't even remember, she no longer needed to tell him. She would make sure he was never going to find out that she was carrying his son, the heir to the Thorne Empire. But then again, things never quite go as planned, she should have realized this by now…

In her first life, Elara Silas was a biological insurance policy a spare part for her sickly brother and a shadow to her saintly twin sister, Elena. Her existence ended on a cold operating table, her heart harvested while her husband, John Grant, watched with chilling indifference. But death was only a detour. Waking up three years in the past, Elara is no longer the obedient dog begging for scraps of affection. Armed with the memories of her family’s ultimate betrayal, she prepares to dismantle the Silas empire from the inside out. Her first move? Rejecting her father’s control to sign a secret contract with his greatest rival: the enigmatic and breathtakingly handsome Orion. Expectations shatter when she meets him. Orion isn't just a powerful jeweler; he is a man haunted by the same ghost. In a world-altering revelation, he confesses the truth: he wasn't a bystander in the first life—he was the man behind the glass, murdered by Elara’s father while trying to save her. Now, two souls who died in the same tragedy are united by a lethal alliance. As Elara returns to the Silas mansion to play the role of the repentant daughter, she finds herself trapped in the same deadly games—including Elena’s blood-soaked frame-ups and her mother’s toxic healing schemes. But this time, Elara isn't alone. With Orion’s shadow looming over the Silas household and a black opal ring hiding a shared secret, the hunt has begun.

Ten years to the day we were mated, Eric came home wearing the scent of his first love. He wrapped me in his scorching heat, his voice a hoarse whisper against my ear. "I want you, Lyra." He hadn't marked me on a full moon in so long. But right now, the scent of another she-wolf on him was a bitter ache in my chest. The dinner I'd prepared for our full moon ritual was swept off the table by our cub, River. He looked at me with his father’s cold expression. "Mom, your cooking doesn’t even come close to Auntie Aurora’s." Aurora. The first love Eric could never forget. The one he'd brazenly appointed as CFO of our pack's corporation. They were the perfect pair, flaunting their connection for all to see. And I, his true mate, had become the pack's laughingstock. For ten years, I played the part of the perfect mate and mother, only to become a shadow in my own home. That night, I filed the request to the Elders. I would sever the mate bond。 Later, under the brilliant Alaskan aurora, I received Eric's frantic mind link. "Lyra, what about River if you leave?" I let out a small laugh. " River only needs you." "Your first love is back, isn't she? Let her be the mother. I'm free."

Every witch awakened a gift when she came of age. Mine was simple. I could siphon my husband's fortune. On Christmas Eve, my husband spent 20,000,000 on a ring and proposed to his mistress as if he were buying a headline. The trending page exploded. Everyone waited to see how quickly I would be thrown out. The pathetic wife was finally swept out the door. When I stayed quiet, Jasper Prescott's tone turned playful, almost indulgent. "She's just a kid. She wanted the whole 'moment.' Your place isn't going anywhere." Then he added, as if assigning me a chore, "She's young. She can't handle things. Pay more attention to the engagement party's details." As though he feared I might cause trouble, he slid a black card across the table with casual ease. "Babe, you know what I value most," he said. "You being sensible." I pinched the cold card between my fingers, smiled, and nodded. No one knew the rule hidden inside our marriage. After we married, every time Jasper betrayed me, I took a piece of his fortune, stripping it from him one point at a time and adding it to my own. Once Christmas was over, I would take whatever he had left.

Life comes hard and fast for Kendra and her family in a dystopian world that is struggling to recover from a nuclear war and is now under the rule of an alien government. Unaware of the impending alien invasion, a group of scientists -which included Kendra's parents- were ordered to create a zombie virus and set it loose on Russia. The intention was to subdue Russia and then release the cure, but the alien attack took them unawares and the scientists and their cure disappeared, leaving the virus to run rampant. Having been inoculated against the virus, Kendra's aunt is one of these scientists who has kept her identity a secret for fear of being made a slave to the alien government. When a village that is connected to the people who moved underground for survival kidnaps Kendra in hopes that they can harvest any memories of her parents discussing the cure while she was a mere infant with the use of an experimental machine, her aunt must decide about coming forth with her identity. In the meantime, along with dealing with the ever-rising population of zombies, the alien regime -which considers humans a delicacy for their dinner table – sets out to correct and purify the human race from those who were mutated in some way by the nuclear explosions. Rex is one of those humans. He is also Kendra’s lover. “Where Zombies Walk” is Book One of Kendra’s Journey in a world that offers steamy romance, nail biting peril, and thrills, and a paradise-like sanctuary within its core. All she has to do is make her way there.